Through Dorris’ Eyes

Sometimes I think that I worry too much about the future of our nation, and the position and state of where African Americans will find themselves. It seems to me that African Americans and other vulnerable groups are always fighting an uphill battle. There is an array of struggles lined up in cue barley awaiting the completion of one crisis before having to engage in another. This lifestyle can drive one to insanity. Mental Health week is around the corner and the African American is besieged with one trial after another that leaves the brain not enough time to regenerate.

As a child, I had hoped and thought that the vigor of the Civil Rights Movement would make life a little lighter so that at least there would be gaps in crisis driven action. I witnessed the adults working so hard. They would leave farms and jobs to attend change meetings that ran late into the night and got up the next day to start again. They were focused with a mission. They were intense. Gaining access to education, fair employment, accommodations, travel, voting and fair housing rights, I am certain has made a distinctive difference for all Americans. Still, the blacks are lagging. It seems so hard to keep from going under and now whites are experiencing the delayed American dream in this tight economy. The transformation of our nation brings about change in our melting pot called the United States of America.

These thoughts come to me as I reflect upon my time as a teenager assisting Fannie Lou Hamer and Robert G. Clark with Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party meetings. This week is especially reflective as the planned unveiling of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Monument on the Mall in Washington, DC. I recall my meeting of Dr. King when he came to my hometown for a meeting and fund raiser. My mom allowed me to serve as an usher and Mrs. Hamer moved me from the rear of the dining hall at St. Jr. College to the head table saying that I should serve, Dr. King, Medgar Evers and other dignitaries and leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. I was honored and determined to do a good job so that the movement that was being undertaken would indeed benefit me for my mother and grandfather were front line civil rights workers who had enough courage to stand for a different kind of future. To serve Dr. King was indeed an honor. He was gracious, encouraging and kind as was Evers.

Now as I reflect upon the progress that has been made, even through the election of President Barack Obama, I wonder whether we have fallen short of the vision of the warriors. The passion with which they volunteered giving their time, money, ideas, resources, and bodies, taking unprecedented risks in hopes a better future for the children are memorable. These warriors spent countless hours away from families on treacherous roads traveling through Klu Klux Klan country to make life better for future generations. The question is, are we merely benefiting from their struggle that provided access and opportunity or are we being greedy benefactors without planting seeds of progress for the next generation?

I think that the vision of the warrior was one of an unshackled people with courage, high hopes, drive, aspiration and the willingness to love and share as they brought the village along unselfishly so that all will enjoy the fruits of the collective labor. Maybe, this is not their vision, but it is what I culled as a child working amongst them as a sponge serving coffee, water, and mimeographing papers so that the word could get out about the next direct action.

My hopes are still high and my longing for a better life for the downtrodden and the upward mobile. Each group needs the other. There is still a necessity for collaboration, cooperation, and the ability to listen and learn from others and therefore, organize a plan of action for the next unresolved problems, of which there are many. Positive unselfish role models are still essential so that the one generation can be influenced by the next.

What warrior voices do you hear? Whether one chooses to replicate the work of previous generations or advance the work left unfinished, there are still many opportunities to make this world a better place with new vigorous creations and strategies for justice, opportunity, and improvements. That is what the Civil Rights warriors were trying to do. Shake this place up. Put some vitality back into neighborhoods. Get life and hope moving again. Do not be so dull and contrived. It is boring and eventually ineffective. Participate in life. It is not a game. It is a journey that leads from one loop to another with many on and off roads that can take you to various destinations. The people who are honored and remembered at the unveiling of Dr. King’s monument, I am sure had no early inclination that they would be moving around the Jim Crow south trying to bring justice and equal opportunity to others.

Hence, as millions view the monument, as I am certain there will be, let us remember those who organized and participated in the Movement so that there could be a statue. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial becomes the 395th national park. His statue is a sum of the work of many and I hope that a lot of you sent a dollar or two to help pay for it.

May God bless, and I will see you next week.

Robert Malone
Many of you have made an investment in a bad stock. After investing in the stock, it falls in price.

Instead of selling at that time, you continue to hold hoping that the price will rebound.

However, the price continues to fall and one day you find that the stock is worthless. In hindsight, you recognize that the stock was a bad stock and it should have been sold on the initial price decline.

Obamacare reminds me of a bad stock investment. This legislation has hurt President Obama in several ways.
Firstly, the passage of Obamacare made many Americans question President Obama’s judgment. Why would the President spend so much time and energy on healthcare, which was of secondary importance Inflatable bounce house to most Americans. Conversely, why wouldn’t he spend most of his time and energy on the economy, which was of upmost importance to most Americans. Americans wanted jobs and not healthcare. One unemployed worker commented on CNN during this period, “give me a job and I will buy my own health insurance.”
There is a principle in management called the Pareto’s Principle or the 80-20 Rule. The principle states that only 20% of the problems or issues a manager faces are really important. Accordingly, that manager should focus 80% of his time on that 20% which really matters. As manager of the nation’s economy, the President must be able to use wisdom to discern the important things from the unimportant.
Secondly, the passage of Obamacare revealed how little the President knows about business. Businesses exist for one simple reason –to make a profit for its owners. Businesses make a profit by maximizing revenue and minimizing cost. Businesses will be hurt under Obamacare because their healthcare cost will increase. Businesses must buy more expensive government-approved health insurance for their employees or pay huge penalties.
Recently, several companies have warned that their earnings will plunge under the new healthcare law. AT&T warned that the legislation will costs it $1 billion, Deere & Co. indicated that the legislation would cost it $150 million.
The healthcare law has also created uncertainty for employers. Dennis Lockhart, President of the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta recently reported:
In addition to slow and uncertain revenue growth, employers are frequently, citing a number of other factors that are impeding hiring. Prominent among these is the lack of clarity about the cost implications of the recent healthcare legislation. We’ve frequently heard strong comments to the effect of “my company won’t hire a single additional worker until we know what health insurance costs are going to be.”
President Obama continues to ask companies to hire unemployed workers. However, his signature legislature is a major impediment to hiring new workers.
Thirdly, Obamacare revived the Republican Party. After the 2008 Presidential election, the Republicans were defeated and in total disarray. Obamacare was passed on a party line vote. No Republicans voted for the passage of the bill.
Republicans criticized the healthcare legislation on many fronts. For example, they argued that it would be too costly and bankrupt the country. Additionally, they argued that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. Lastly, they argued that the legislation would hurt hiring because it would raise the cost of health insurance.
With Obamacare, President Obama handed the Republicans his head on a plate. He gave them that one issue to hammer him over the head with.
In fact, the Democrats lost the House to the Republicans in the 2010 mid-term elections because of Obamacare. In many of the congressional races, the Republican representatives ran on one issue. If elected they would vote to repeal Obamacare.
Lastly, with the passage of Obamacare, President Obama lost support of the independent voters. Independent voters cannot be ignored. They make up approximately 37% of the voting population. The independents become disillusioned with President Obama because of his focus on healthcare legislation at the expense of the economy and jobs. In addition, they disliked the backroom deal making that was used to pass the legislation. The legislature process exposed President Obama as a partisan politician. Independents had voted for him because he had promised to get rid of partisan politics and to work with the Republicans to get things accomplished in Washington.
According to a recent Gallop Poll, only 37% of the independent voters feel that President Obama should be elected for a second term. On the other hand, 57% of the independent voters feel that President Obama does not deserve a second term.
Sometimes politicians have to admit that they made a mistake with a decision. The American people will often forgive that politician when he changes course. However, if that politician stubbornly continues with that mistake, voters will usually punish him at the next election.

Robert Malone is a 1980 Graduate of Morehouse College in Accounting and Finance, a 1982 Graduate of the Wharton School of Business Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in Entrepreneurial Management and Corporate Finance, a 1982 thru 1985 Worked for Peat, Marwick & Mitchell-Houston Office in Tax Dept.
From 1986 to 2005 Robert Malone CPA Firm, specializing in small business accounting, taxation and consulting from1986 to Present- Owner of The Malone Group- Real estate ownership and consulting firm. Provide construction and asset management services.
Designations CPA and CFP

Laborers and the bounty

With 16,000 troops recently on the streets of London, I can think about what has happened must have come as a result of terrible acts of injustice, real or perceived to ferment frustration and revolt following the shooting of a young black man in the chest and arm killing him by a police officer. The incident brings memories back to the turbulent times in the USA during the civil rights movement when blacks were killed by police officers and the Ku Klux Klan without subsequent justice being rendered.

Hence a wide range of ages and races have gathered creating mayhem and social malaise. The challenge of a class system with people without jobs and feeling that their hands have been tied by a system and generations that have failed them by an unjustly flawed system.

On August 28 in 1963 America witnessed the historic March on Washington. This event of human force was a demonstration following years of unrest, mistreatment, disrespect, and injustice and a host of negative treatment to the Negro since their enslavement by America and its laws. August 28, 2011, is the date in which the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. statue in Washington, DC will be unveiled. The work of Dr. King was accomplished during the turbulent civil rights movement in the fight for justice. When he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 however, the active movement drew to a chilling stop leaving much work to be done. A part of the work still to be completed in its new phase is to teach residents how to manage their lives as they work with law enforcement officials.

Most minorities and marginalized people have yet to understand how they can stay alive when addressing turbulent circumstances, and not get caught up in the judicial system whereby they are spending hard to earn cash and years in jail or on parole.

The civil rights movement sought to bring rights to a class of Negros in preparation through advancements in education and access to opportunities for the protected class in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment of the US Constitution. The middle class of African Americans have grown exponentially since the civil rights movement with advancements in education, upward mobile careers, Title VII laws and Fair Housing and Voting Rights statues passage.

Each of these legislative actions served to provide opportunity and access for African Americans, yet with these advancements, a growing underclass continues. Therefore, the class of marginalized Americans need the benefits gained by those who were afforded opportunities to attend law schools and the like to share their knowledge with the people who have not had such opportunities and who continue to struggle in neighborhoods impacted by intense legal clashes with police officers. We must teach the people what their rights are under the law so that they can help save themselves and elevate their families and communities.

We must learn to think deeply about what can be accompanied with new knowledge and new experiences. The prudent and responsible operation is to bring that information back to the masses so that the tide of humanity can be lifted from the dungeon of threats, mistrust and hatred. Witnessing what is happening in London, witnessing the unveiling of Dr. King’s Monument in Washington next week are concurrent acts that should increase the middle class citizens urgency to do more for the underclass through acts of devotion to a cause that laid down a foundation for your success through the blood of families that suffered for the freedom America’s African American middle class enjoy today.

We must remember that the Civil Rights laborers did not labor for the subsequent generations to eat the bounty and not replenish it for the next generation. Too many risks were taken. Too many families were subject to abused. Too many people were hurt and damaged. Much was lost including lives, homes, and the destructions of families. So with this unveiling of Dr. King’s statue on the anniversary of the historic March on Washington, Americans of all races need to step it up a notch, as going backward is an unacceptable option for progress.

Progress can also be made in London as it was made in the USA, which will relieve racial, class and economic strife when like-minded people unite on the common cause for justice and fairness. It will come in the aftermath of social power interjected with people participating on their on behalf and for a new kind of inclusive governmental system that creates policies to benefit all. Still there will be much work to do.

May God bless and I will see you next week.